Heart failure, a strong risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF), is often accompanied by elevated liver transaminases. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that elevated transaminases are associated with the risk for incident AF in the community. A total of 3,744 participants (mean age 65 ± 10 years, 56.8% women) from the Framingham Heart Study Original and Offspring cohorts, free of clinical heart failure, were studied. Cox proportional-hazards models adjusted for standard AF risk factors (age, gender, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, electrocardiographic PR interval, antihypertensive treatment, smoking, diabetes, valvular heart disease, and alcohol consumption) were examined to investigate associations between baseline serum transaminase levels (alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase) and the incidence of AF over up to 10 years (29,099 person-years) of follow-up.
